Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-10-08
REV. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
And the Lord Said Unto Me, Amos,
What Seest Thou? anasI Said
A Plumb Line
ThslTsndency Of the Times IL 20 AOs ~
the Standard of 0thsrs.
Che Division Plumb Line Applied to All
OaIlipgs in Life.
The Adoption Of the Law Of Right Would
Benefit Everybody.
Sound Advice to Young Men Entering
Upon Lifs's Work.
rhslTsndency Of the Times IL 70 act ~
the Standard Of Others.

THE PLUMB LINE.
BROOKLYN, Sept. 25.-After the
great congregation had sung the long
meter doxology in the Brooklyn taber-
nacle this morning, DR.. Talmage ex-
pounded the sixth chapter of the Sec
ond epistle to the Corinthians, setting
forth the Importance of separation
from bad fellowship, and saying that a
man is no better than the company he
keeps. The subject Of the sermon was
"a Straight Up-and-Down Religion"
and the text was Amos vii, v. 8:
"And the Lord said unto ne, Amos, what
seest thou and | said, a plumb line"
DIR. Talmage said:
The solid masonry of the world has
to me a fascination. Walk about some
of the triumphal arches and the cathed-
rails, four or six hundred years old,
and see them stand as erect as when
they were builded, walls of great height
for centuries, not bending a quarter OF
an inch this way or that way. So
greatly honored were the masons who
builded these walls that they were
free from taxation and called ''free"
masons. The trowel gets most of the
credit for these buildings, ahd its clear
ringing on stone and brick has sounded
across the ages. But there is another
implement of just rs much Importance
as the trowel. and my text recognizes
it. ~Bricklayers, and stone masons,
and carpenters, in the building of walls,
ase an instrument made Of q cord, at
The end of which "a lump of lead is
axtened. They drop it over the side at
he wells, and, rs
THE PLUMB
naturally seeks the center Of gravity in
The earth, the workman discovers
where the wall recedes, and where II
bulges out, and just what is the per.
pendicuiar. Our text represents God
as standing on the wall of character,
which the Israelltes had built, and in
that way measuring it. "And the
Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest
thoup and l said, a plumb line"
What the world wants is a straight
up-and-down religion. Much of the
so-called plety of the day bends this
way and that, to suit the times. 1t is
horizontal with a low state of sentiment
and morals. We have all been build
ing a wall of character, and it is glar-
ingly imperfect and needs reconstruc-
ton. How shall it be broughs into the
perpendicular Only by the divine
'And the Lord said TO me, Amos, what
sees thouP And l said, a plumb line"
THE TENDENCY OF THE TIMES.
The whole tendency of the times is to
make US act by the standard of what
others do. If they play cards, we
play cards. If they dance, we dance.
If they read certain styles of books, we
read them. We throw over the wall of
our character the tangled plumb line
of other lives and reject the infallible
test which Amos saw. The question
for me should not be what you think is
right but what God Thinks is right.
This perpetual reference to the behav-
or of others, as though it decided any
thing but human fallibility, is a mis-
take as wide as the world. There are
ten thousand plumb lines in use, but
only one is true ana exact, AMI that is
the line of Gods eternal right. There
Is a mighty attempt being made to re-
construct and fix up the ten command
ments. To many they seem too rigid.
The tower of Pisa leans over about
thirteen feet from the perpendicular.
and people go thousands of miles to
see its graceful inclination. and by ex-
ira braces and various architectural
contrivances it is kept leaning from
century to century. Why not have the
ten granite blocks of Sinai set a little
ashanti Why not have the pillar of
truth a leaning towerp Why is not an
ellipse as good as a squarep Why is
not an oblique as good as straight up
and Jownp My friends, we must have
a standard; shall it be Gods or man'sP
THE DIVINE PLUME LINE.
The divine plumb line needs to be
thrown over all merchandise. Thous-
ands of years ago Solomon discovered
the tendency of buyers 10 %depreciate
goods. He saw n man beating down
an article lower and lower, a-d saying
1t was not worth the price asked, and
when he had purchased at the lowest
point he told every body wha. a sharp